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Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-224 |producer(s)= |story= Bill Vallely |script= Joe Menosky |director=John Bruno |imdbref=tt0708998 |guests=Jay Leggett as Phlox, Googy Gress as Overlooker and Robert Greenberg as Devro |previous_production=Barge of the Dead |next_production=Dragon's Teeth |episode=VGR S06E04 |airdate=13 October 1999 |previous_release=Barge of the Dead |next_release=Alice |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2376) |previous_story=Barge of the Dead |next_story=Dragon's Teeth }} Summary The Doctor is disappointed because he wanted to travel with the Away Team to an unknown planet. He therefore files a formal complaint with Captain Janeway regarding poor treatment by the crew. He also requests to be made Emergency Command Hologram, or the new Captain, in the event of a catastrophic emergency. However, Janeway tells him that it just isn't possible. In one of his daydreams, the Voyager crew is sitting in a meeting when Torres begins to rub her foot up the Doctor's leg. In the next daydream sequence, the Doctor walks into a party celebrating his promotion as Emergency Command Hologram. In the meantime, an alien vessel tries to access Voyager's internal sensors. However, they are unable to get past its security encryption. One of the aliens named Phlox discovers that the Doctor is a computer program and he is able to watch everything that the Doctor is experiencing on Voyager, including his daydreams. Phlox discovers that Voyager is a lost vessel that is not from the Delta Quadrant. In the Doctor's next dream, Voyager is attacked by Borg. Tuvok and Chakotay begin to sprout Borg implants and Captain Janeway is killed by the attack. The Doctor immediately takes control and tells the computer to activate the Emergency Command Hologram. The Doctor's uniform magically changes to a command style. The new Captain orders the release of his imaginary "photonic cannon," which destroys the Borg sphere. Phlox still doesn't know that what he is witnessing is only taking place in the Doctor's imagination. The aliens think that Captain Janeway was killed in the attack and that the hologram is now in command of the vessel. They begin to plan their attack. The Doctor tells Kim, Seven of Nine and Torres that he is having cognitive projections or daydreams. However, because his algorithms are malfunctioning, he is daydreaming whether he wants to or not. As a result, he is randomly jumping from one daydream to the next. The crew is able to watch what the Doctor is experiencing. Captain Janeway is amazed when she sees the Doctor take command of Voyager. Meanwhile, Phlox realizes that he was only watching the Doctor's daydreams. He is afraid to tell his superiors because they don't tolerate mistakes very easily. Because Phlox feels that he has gotten to know the Doctor, he decides to transmit a simulacrum of himself into the Doctor's program and warn Voyager of the alien attack. In return for warning Voyager of the attack, Phlox asks the Doctor to pose as the Captain in order to trick his commanders. When Voyager is hailed by the alien vessel, Captain Janeway tells the Doctor what to say by remote. Just as the alien vessel orders a type-four assault, the Doctor instructs Chakotay to activate Voyager's phony "photonic cannon." Phlox reminds his commanders how the "photonic cannon" easily destroyed the Borg. As a result, the alien vessel retreats. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Shane Tourtellotte on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 8:13 pm: The Doctor's fantasy performance of "La donna e mobile" was in the wrong key, starting on B rather than E-flat. A computer program with a supposedly perfect ear for pitch should have done better. I guess it's because Robert Picardo's really a baritone in a musical world biased toward tenors. (And this was the first time he's sung that it was obvious his voice was dubbed.) It could have been an experiment by the EMH, to see if there was an adverse effect on the performance in using the wrong key. # The Doctor protests that his program can be expanded indefinitely. Is this true? He suffered a crisis of memory overload in the third season episode The Swarm (the first time we heard him singing, IIRC). I don't recall how it was resolved, but did it allow his program to grow unfettered? Someone with a better memory help me with this. The engineering staff probably fould a way to increase the EMH's memory storage capacity, after the memory overload in The Swarm was resolved. # Our friend the Vogon (I half-expected him to break out in poetry and get my ears bleeding) claimed that the fantasy-Borg vessel was annihilated, so there was no debris to detect. When we saw it destroyed, though, there were sizable chunks. He's lucky nobody caught that lie. Assuming the debris wasn't vapourised by the explosion. # Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 10:18 pm: Had Tuvok been a little sharp on his feet, he could have helped the doctor's "Corbomite" maneuvre. When Holodoc asked to have the "photonic cannons" powered up, Tuvok could have done something, made some kind of adjustment to the deflector dish or prepared to launch torpedoes or something. The Hierarchy guys might not know exactly what they're scanning and might have gotten the message faster. Maybe the photonic cannon are 'designed' to prevent an enemy detecting when they are powered up? # Ryan Smith on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 10:52 pm: Exactly what good would a hypospray do against a Borg assimilation virus? Was it just to incapacitate the Borged crew? Anonymous on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 11:18 pm: This was the Doctor's fantasy. In his mind, he found a "cure" for the Borg effects. # Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, October 13, 1999 - 11:43 pm: Why is Engineer B'Elanna handing out Away Team assignments? Richie Vest on Thursday, October 14, 1999 - 6:54 am: Keith - Enginner B'Elanna could have been in charge of the away team. Therefore it would be up to her to decide who did what. # Will Spencer on Monday, October 25, 1999 - 10:51 am: The aliens have the starboard side of Voyager on their viewscreens; just one problem-- Voyager passed in front of them, and continued left to right on our tv screens, but right to left from the alien's perspective, so their viewscreen should show a portside view of the Voyager. This could be a fault with the camera flipping the image. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Voyager